Ngatu Led Me North

At the start of 2021, preparations were made for a ngatu tāhina and a ngatu tapa‘ingatu (Tongan barkcloth), both in the collection of Canterbury Museum, to travel north. The two were to take part in ‘Amui ‘i Mu‘a―Ancient Futures, an exhibition I knew little of until I arrived at the opening night to see both ngatu displayed in context, amongst other manifestations of Tongan knowledge, visual language, and social systems.

Ethnographic collection items are the skilful manifestations and innovations of a person’s or people’s political, social and economic systems and practices. The management of such items requires a level of care typically overlooked but is increasingly being practised; prompted by members of origin communities, including their transnational whanaunga/aiga/family. Pacifica artists re-examining and re-contextualising museum objects, spaces and records is inevitably on the rise. Similarly, museums worldwide are unravelling not only stories of ‘exploration’ and ‘great discoveries’ to which their Pacific